A DRIFT method for collecting spectra from dye mixtures (50 - 500 ng) extracted from small textile samples (2 mm yarn) is outlined. Results of experiments using library search routines for matching of IR spectra of simple (< 5 components) dye mixtures indicate that matches can be distinguished satisfactorily, however, with complex (8 - 14 components) dye mixture matching of duplicate spectra is less well defined. The application of principal component analysis for matching and discrimination of small dye extracts from a worn garment suggests that this is a useful approach and can add to the TLC information about the sample.